TheAgitator.com
Quotable
Friday, December 26th, 2003“As a veteran, I strongly believe that fighting for our country must be fairly shared by all racial and economic groups. Nobody wants to go to war, but the burden of service cannot fall only on volunteers who, no matter how patriotic, are attracted to the military for financial reasons. We cannot continue to pretend it is fair that one segment of society makes all the sacrifices.”
– NY Rep. Charlie Rengel, a Democrat.
“I think I’m the only member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who would reinstate the draft. There are huge social benefits that come from it. I can assure you I would not be in the U.S. Senate today if I had not gone through the draft. When I look at the problems of some of our kids in America nowadays and then I go visit the troops, I see what a great benefit it is to give people the opportunity to serve their country.”
– Okla. Sen. James Inhofe, a Republican.
Don’t think this couldn’t happen.
I believe it’s “Rangel.”
Also, the Charles Rangel comment is at least 8-9 months old.
No, it’s less than a week old.
It’s from an essay on conscription Rangel wrote for this week’s Time magazine.
Tried to post this last night, but the comments and search were glitching…
I find it darkly amusing that people supporting the war tend to oppose a draft on the grounds that it would make the military less effective (as per the current Pentagon opposition to it), while people opposing the war consider the same result a bonus in promoting opposition to the war.
This is anecdotal to be sure, but I’ve only read or talked to one person who both supported a draft and supported invading Iraq - and she was old enough to remember WW2, which made it seem reasonable to her. Every other proponent of the draft I’ve dealt with wanted it to use as propaganda against Bush or to make the US military less functional in the hopes we’d use it less often.
Sorry,
I guess it was just Rangel recycling his old comments,then. He has been saying the exact same thing since before we even invaded Iraq. I remember hearing someone reading this on talk radio almost a year ago.
Charles Rangel introduced a Bill in Congress to reinstitute the draft on January 7, 2003. That’s when I originally heard this argument.
Muddled Thinking
Radley Balko has some draft quotes:”As a veteran, I strongly believe that fighting for our country must be fairly shared by all racial and economic groups. Nobody wants to go to war, but the burden of service cannot fall only…
Having two teenagers, I know a number of their peers that have enlisted. the amount of training that is necessary prior to any deployement, completely negates the arguement for a draft. a two year commitment would result in an enorsement waste of investment. We no longer need a “physically fit, straight shooting man” for the infantry. The technology today, requires a great deal of training to make use of our techonological advantage. Everyone moves to the area best suited to their set of skills, lets not degrade military service by saying these people are there because there isn’t anywhere else for them to go
It will not happen. The military is against it for the reasons posted by George above. It would be a political turkey.
I have often argued that Nixon’s greatest legacy is the all volunteer army and that that was a key factor in the building of our current magnificent military.
Well, you know Senator Inhofe, a lot of slaves derived a great deal of benefit from chattel slavery. Lots of exercise and fresh air, plus room and board. What’s to object to, other than the fact that it was coerced?
As an infantry soldier that served in Iraq this belief that somehow the average infantryman is somehow more “plugged in” and somehow less fit then his WW2 counterpart is almost funny. The average infantryman might use a handheld GPS or a radio and that’s it.
As for being fit I bet most of us on the line today could run circles around the brave men from Vietnam and WW2 and all wars before, after and inbetween. We do more PT, we are fed better and overall have better health.
The draft certainly would produce new infantrymen capable of fighting in a line unit. Only problem is integrating them into existing units. I for one wouldn’t want to be serving next to a draftee that was forced here.
The main reason today’s Army is so good is not it’s technological advantages, it’s the quality of people. The volunteer military is our reason for success.
If we need Infantry we can make them, lets just hope we don’t use a draft to do so.
Great points made by mrmarshall (and thank you for your service). Survival in combat depends on competent leadership and mutual devotion between you and the man next to you - not flag, country, etc.
I believe the statements made by Rep. Rangel and Sen. Inhofe, both apparent draftees, lend support to their oppostition. After all, how could one voluntarily enter into the noble profession of soldiering and later stoop to politics? Maybe we could institute a political draft to improve the quality of our representative government?
That would be an interesting application for the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice).
Another arguement against the draft (and especially mandatory service) is that this provides the government an opportunity to indoctrinate all draftees with specific philosophies.
As for myself, I think military service is great for almost all. The benefits far outweigh the negatives (nothing is perfect). The arguement about indoctrination is one that I have heard on occasion and no doubt the liberals would bring up again in agruing against the draft/mandatory service.
A last thought, no doubt many of those returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan will long support a strong military. As such, this bodes well for the United States military long term. I would also guess that more vetern returnees from Iraq/Afghanistan will trend toward the Republican party values (traditional values, conservative values, personal responsibility, personal inititative, etc.).
Now, the chicken and egg question. Is this bias for a strong military, traditional/conservative values, personal responsibility, etc. a function of the type of person who enters the military of a function of their training and life experiences?
If it is due to life experiences, is this due to improper philosophical indoctination within the military or simply broadening the outlook and life experiences of those involved with the military? I tend to think it is the broadening of life experiences.
The young make up a extraordinary percentage of protestors for several reasons. Foremost, they are inexperienced and have lived a sheltered existence. They have belive in a fairy tale world and don’t have the life experiences to know there are many sides to every issue… and many of these sides have valid considerations.
This brings me back to the Churchill quote about those who are not liberal when they are young don’t have a heart and those who are not conservative when the get older don’t have a brain.
How can a website that has a quote from Ben Franklin (Dick Cheney’s Christmas Card) not argue these quotes with historical fact? The Revolutionary war was fought by milita (raised locally) as was the Civil War. Is Radley a Libertarian and just provoking us or a Liberal? Neither of these Congressman give a historical list any of the “social benefits” and sharing “across all racial and economic groups” that occured with the draft in the Viet Nam war. Hello? These same liberal protests were used AGAINST the draft at that time! Weasles like Clinton and Stalone still managed to avoid the draft.
I served in Desert Storm. I joined for economic reasons and stayed because I thought it was important - not a scrap job that my country couldn’t find anyone else to do. My son is serving now because he chose to and both of us are proud of it. Building Iraq and sharing freedom makes a shoulder proud to show his face to the world. Quotes like these are an embarassment.
These politicians are in the crux of a major problem. We are finding that closing bases and working with a smaller quick-strike force wasn’t such a brilliant idea considering all the world building politicians like to do.
Instead of drafting, make it attractive. Give these kids a decent paycheck (c’mon $1000 a month to start defending America?) and entice them with the true importance of their skilled work. Who in the heck would call a $1100 a month a reason to join anything? All of the married sergeants in the military are qualified for food stamps and many are on them!
Why is it that the military can’t get skilled doctors? They get scraps from the medical profession. Some that can’t even practice outside the military. Should we draft doctors? Lawyers? Nurses? You’d get better results just giving them a decent salary and benefits…they, like our kids would WANT to join.